Lightning flashes brightened the area intermittently followed by the loud roar of thunder while drops of water like silver needles kept falling continually, the rain not showing any signs of weakening.
Liu Guan Tao locked eyes with Ye Mo.
The rain soaked ground under their feet turned into a quagmire of mud, squelching beneath their foots with every steps.
Liu Guan Tao knew that by himself, he had no chance to capture or kill Ye Mo. Moreover he stood in a very dangerous position, the area was filled with flesh devourer sleeping plants and only his opponent knew their location.
If he fought in this place only death awaited him.
In this situation Liu Guan Tao could only think of one way out of this predicament.
"I must escape!"; Gathering wind currents around him, Liu Guan Tao darted off with no hesitation.
Nothing is too shameless when it is to survive, if you can't fight it, run.
From their earlier confrontation, Liu Guan Tao understood he faced a tough opponent. He might have a chance in a fair fight by using his experience and giving his all to defeat him but this wasn't such a case.
It was a life and death battle where his enemy prepared well and had the advantage of the environment.
Having no chance to win yet resolving to fight till the end was a stupid behavior. Liu Guan Tao was past the age of the hot blooded fervor of youths.
If he returned to the clan he could report everything he learned here and the scheme that was set in place to the elders. This in itself would be a personal victory and Ye Mo's defeat.
"Leader wait for us!" Liu Deng yelled anxiously as he pursued him, activating the Wind Flow battle skill.
"Please, don't leave me!" Liu Shanhe wailed as he was left behind, he ran to the best of his abilities trying to follow but it was simply impossible.
Compared to a movement battle skill, the young Shanhe pushing forward through the strenght of his legs alone was as slow as a snail and his comrades figures moved out of his sight in an instant.
Ye Mo seeing his targets fleeing immediately used Wind Flow and chased after them.
In the blink of an eye he arrived behind the desperate Liu Shanhe and with a powerful kick, sent him out of his way.
His body crashed like a thrown fruit against a large rock after flying for 8 meters.
This action was executed smoothly and Ye Mo barely lost any speed as he kept going after the Liu clan members, steadily shortening the distance.
Ye Mo was a body refiner using a high-tier Star class art. Just sprinting with all his might like Shanhe has been doing was enough for him to be nearly on par with someone using a low tier battle skill.
If he coupled it with Wind Flow then he became much faster than any ordinary cultivator; It would require at least a mid tier battle skill to keep him at bay but Liu Deng and Liu Guan Tao were both respectively an investigative and a defensive specialized cultivator.
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In terms of movement they learned only the traditional Wind Flow battle skill and were far from matching Ye Mo's speed.
For cultivators, their biggest problem was time. Cultivation took time but learning battle skills also took time. An ordinary cultivator at their stage would only have 3 or 4 battle skills at best.
However theses skills wouldn't be able to cover all 5 aspects of a combat system which were - Offense, Defense, Movement, Investigation and Healing.
That's why for clans and sects, teams were created to take on missions with each members specializing in one aspect.
Defensive cultivators were meant to withstand the strikes for the rest of the team while investigative cultivators had battle skills unabling them to inspect the environment and locate any dangers in the others stead.
Movement wasn't their forte hence Ye Mo was catching up.
This one kept on the move and could quickly see the back of Liu Deng running away.
Liu Deng jumped in fright as he saw Ye Mo pressing towards him and took turns left and right around the trees to shake him off in vain.
"Leave me alone!" When Ye Mo was almost at arm's reach, Liu Deng lost his nerve and suddenly turned around swinging his fist at him.
Ye Mo easily blocked it with the palm of his hand. The fist didn't contain any strenght, it was just Liu Deng's last attempt to make him back off.
With a cutting motion of the hand Ye Mo broke Liu Deng's neck, his head tilting to one side, then departed once again towards the last remaining member of their team.
Although he couldn't see Liu Guan Tao he knew exactly in which direction he had to go.
The jungle was too dense and the visibility too low. Entering for the first time without a map, it was too difficult to orient yourselves. That's why if you wanted to leave this place you could only retrace your steps all the way to the outside.
Ye Mo has monitored them from the shadows since they entered the woods and knew the path they took.
Assuredly, after some time, Ye Mo could distinguish Liu Guan Tao's figure moving not far away.
As a 7th layer cultivator he was slightly faster than Liu Deng and the latter delayed Ye Mo making sharp turns to escape him, helping Liu Guan Tao widening the gap between them.
Yet, both Liu clan members used the same Wind Flow battle skill and Ye Mo shortened the distance much faster than Liu Guan Tao expected.
Liu Guan Tao cursed under his breath seeing his pursuer. He left his comrades back in hope they could buy him some time but he barely crossed half the distance to the end of the jungle when Ye Mo showed up.
He recognized he wouldn't be able to outrun him as Ye Mo caught up and they moved together side by side.
Liu Guan Tao was anxious but didn't despair, he was a defensive cultivator afterall, he was confident he could endure Ye Mo's assault and reach the city in one piece. Only the possibility of flesh devorer sleeping plants overrunning the area burdened his mind.
Without a warning, Ye Mo raised his arm and punched at full strenght towards Liu Guan Tao.
"Then fight it is!" Liu Guan Tao gritted his teeth.
Mid-tier Yellow class battle skill - Lion's Mane!
Immediately his hair grew wildly and completely covered his body not leaving one inch out and took a spiky design like a durian.
The hairs didn't flutter in the wind and the rain had no effect either, suddenly becoming tough like steel.
Ye Mo seeing this change halted his fist before it was impaled on the spikes but the latters shot out quickly, cutting his arm at various places.
Some cut were light but others were deep, blood dripping all over.
Ye Mo took several steps back and gazed at Liu Guan Tao's spiky shell.
"He can't move?" Ye Mo smiled mockingly, taking his time to swallow an healing pill as he saw his foe immobile and the long spikes retracting back.
There was no hurry, he could just wait for Liu Guan Tao to lose his Qi then kill him. His defense was outstanding, hinting that it was at least a mid-tier battle skill so it shouldn't take that long for him to run out.
After a few breaths, Liu Guan Tao suddenly dispelled Lion's Mane and ran away using Wind Flow trying to take Ye Mo off guard.
However Ye Mo immediately charged at him with a Stone Breaking Punch.
Low-tier Yellow class - Immovable Great Wall!
Liu Guan Tao willed and from the ground, a wall of brown rocks and earth grew out to 2 meters tall and half a meter thick.
Ye Mo didn't stop an instant and punched the wall easily shattering it, the remainder of the force hitting Liu Guan Tao harshly.
His back smashed against a tree which dented backwards while Liu Guan Tao couldn't catch his breath for a second.
Ye Mo didn't give him any time and roared as he throwed another punch.
"Accursed bastard!" Liu Guan Tao raged meeting the punch head-on sending a Black Earth Heavy Palm.
Ye Mo barely retreated from the collision but Liu Guan Tao was sent back against the tree.
The latter tried to flee again using Wind Flow but he was quickly assaulted by Ye Mo's Cyclone Kick.
Liu Guan Tao raised another wall in front of him. He expected it to be shattered like the previous time and he would face the weakened strike himself but to his surprise the wall stood in place.
Bewildered and unnerved, he took slow careful steps back waiting for any movements from the other side of the wall which never came.
After a few seconds he jumped from branches to branches on a tree to gain some height and looked over but on the other side of the wall and further away there was nothing.
Right at this time, Ye Mo's figure emerged midair behind him and punched savagely.
Liu Guan Tao at the last moment felt something and without thinking twice used Lion's Mane however it couldn't take form properly and before the hairs grew enough, he was fiercely hit in the back.
His body was hurled like a meteor and crashed on the ground raising a cloud of dust.
Ye Mo went down and calmly walked towards the crash site.
When Liu Guan Tao raised his wall previously, rather than breaking it, Ye Mo used its cover to activate Shadow Walk.
He soundlessly backed off for several meters then used the surrounding trees to stay concealed and circled around Liu Guan Tao until he caught his back.
As the cloud of dust dissipated, Liu Guan Tao could be seen vomiting blood. Taking notice of Ye Mo approaching, he painfully growled, covering himself with Lion's Mane.
Ye Mo took support against a rock and calmly waited, unhurried.
After some time, a voice came from the inside of the spiky shell.
"Ye Mo, let's make a deal."